UCO Holds A2 Camp for Sitting Volleyball Paralympic Hopefuls

Ryan Wilson September 01, 2009

8_25_09_sitting_camp_at_uco

Photo: Courtesy of UCO

Camp participants Kaleo Kanahele (left) and Charlie Swearigen (right) practice with U.S. Men's Sitting Team member Dan Regan at the A2 Camp at UCO.

Release courtesy of Ryan Wilson
UCO Wellness Center
(405) 974-3127
rwilson18@uco.edu

EDMOND, Okla. (Aug. 25, 2009) – The U.S. Sitting Volleyball program held its first A2 development camp on Aug. 10-14 at the University of Central Oklahoma, an Olympic and Paralympic training site.

Selected athletes who had been previously identified at UCO’s Endeavor Games, U.S. Paralympics Military Sports Camps and other clinics were invited to attend the camp to practice skill development and team strategies. The goal for the A2 program is to develop athletes who could compete on the U.S. Sitting Volleyball Teams.

UCO is the official Paralympic training site for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Sitting Volleyball Teams.

The athletes who took part in the camp were: Charlie Swearigen, 31, a flight paramedic from Jackson, Miss.; Bethany Zummo, 16, a high school volleyball player from Dublin, Calif., and Kaleo Kanahele, 13, a club volleyball player from Oklahoma City.

Swearigen participated in the 2009 Endeavor Games sitting volleyball competition and was invited to the camp by UCO Sitting Volleyball Coordinator Elliot Blake.

“At 6-foot, 3-inches,  he was one of the taller athletes and since the Endeavor Games he has taken great interest in developing his volleyball skills,” Blake said.

When Swearigen returned home from the Endeavor Games, he contacted the head volleyball coach at Millsaps College in Mississippi to work on his volleyball skills and has practiced regularly at the college prior to coming to the camp.

Zummo was first introduced to the sport at age 13, when she witnessed a demonstration in Reno, Nev.  As a regular high school and club player, Zummo wanted a shot to test her skills at sitting volleyball.

“Bethany did a great job learning to play sitting volleyball,” U.S. Sitting Volleyball Head Coach Bill Hamiter said. “She has a very positive attitude and absorbed all of the instruction that she was given during the week of training.”

Kanahele demonstrated strong volleyball skills despite being only 13 years old.  She hones her volleyball skills at school and at the Oklahoma Peak Performance Volleyball Club, where her 13-and-under team finished 18th at USA Volleyball’s Junior Olympic National Championships.

“Kaleo has participated in practices with the resident athletes training at UCO before and is more familiar with sitting volleyball than the other campers,” Hamiter said.

“This A2 camp has been a great starting point for us to bring in new athletes and get them started in the national team pipeline,” Hamiter said. “We have identified several athletes from volleyball events and military sport camps, and now we need to get them together to begin their development toward possibly becoming a national team member.”

There are plans to hold up to four more A2 development camps at UCO next year for athletes that are identified as potential U.S. Paralympians.

For more information on sitting volleyball contact Elliot Blake at (405) 974-3153 or jblake1@uco.edu.

Tags: Bill Hamiter, Central Oklahoma, Sitting Volleyball